I'm not ashamed to say I paid for my pitbull. With good reason. I fell in love with her when her owners brought her over during work (they where working on my house) and over the course of a couple of weeks found out they kept her outside and left her alone all day in November. She was 6-7 weeks old at the time. When they offered to sell her to me, I couldn't say no. She didn't deserve that kind of life, and the people who owned her would have sold her to someone worse. These people ended up stealing thousands of dollars for me and are currently in jail, but I have not a single regret about buying Sadie.

Of course.. I would NEVER buy a dog or cat from a breeder. But it stops there. Rats, goats, pigs, birds, snakes, lizards, rabbits, chinchillas (and fish)... there are a lot of animals that I would rather get through a breeder. Dogs and cats are so wide spread because everyone wants to make a buck and it's easy to toss a couple of dogs in a cage and wait. You can't make that much money off of rats, rabbits, goats, pigs... so a lot of breeders do it for love of the animal and are more careful then dog and cat mills. Like fish.. I've heard of people sinking thousands of dollars (I've already spent a few hundred) just to breed betta.. it's hard to make that money back.

No, I'm not attacking anyone, I'm just saying that in some cases, a breeder is a better idea. Not always.

Don't feel ashamed! You gave that Pit Bull a better life. That's what matters. If the animal is suffering, and you have the intentions of giving it better care, I say go for it! It doesn't matter if you paid for it, it just matters of what impact you made to the animal.

Over hundreds of bettas die in their small, dirty cups each day. Only you can help them live. Research and then save them, today!

Rabbits are actually the 3rd most surrendered animal in the United States, behind cats and dogs. There is no shortage of rabbit mills and backyard breeders. Thousands die in shelters everyday. Both of my bunnies were rescues/adopted. With that said, I have no problem with reputable breeders trying to improve the breed or people buying from reputable breeders.

We have bought a puppy from a breeder (not a puppy mill or anything like that!). I don't see anything wrong with buying a dog from a breeder. My parents wouldn't get a rescue dog as they can have a lot of different problems and you don't know what their personality will be like as they are often a mix of several different breeds (if it's a "mutt"). I'm not at all against them! In fact I would love to have one! Maybe I'll post pics of the puppy we're bringing home.....

We have bought a puppy from a breeder (not a puppy mill or anything like that!). I don't see anything wrong with buying a dog from a breeder. My parents wouldn't get a rescue dog as they can have a lot of different problems and you don't know what their personality will be like as they are often a mix of several different breeds (if it's a "mutt"). I'm not at all against them! In fact I would love to have one! Maybe I'll post pics of the puppy we're bringing home.....

Actually, mixed breed dogs are way better than a pure bred dog. I am not saying this because I am biased, and I have a lot of reasons to be biased here. I had a pure bred cocker spaniel once and she was an absolute mess. Never had a sane molecule in her body. She was always anxious and high strong as can be. She hated small animals with a vengeance and would kill them whenever she could get at them (she killed a hamster and a pet bird of mine, plus she terrorized the two cats till they were afraid to come out of this one room). Never will I get another pure bred dog in my life! They aren't worth it.

Okay, I digress, but actually, a mutt has better health overall than a lot of pure breds, and is mentally more sound. They are hardier, live longer and are overall less temperamental. They simply don't have all those genetic problems associated with certain breeds because they have a broader genetic background, and thus a healthier one.

Sure the dogs at the pound all come from who knows where with who knows what behavioral issues. Not to say all dogs from the pound are like that, but a lot can be that way. If you actually get off your butt and look around for a good organization who knows what they are doing, they will hook you up with a dog that has been behaviorally assessed and approved for adoption.

Also, there are many, MANY, pure bred dogs at the pound and in animal adoption organizations. Don't just snub your nose at adopting a mutt because they aren't pure bred and don't have papers. I can't stand people who are like that. Those people are absolutely shallow and have no sense of comprehension on the scale of how many lovable perfect dogs, who just happen to not be a specific breed, are put down every single minute, because they don't have a loving home to go to.

Further more, a breed doesn't necessarily define a dog's personality. I have the experience to say its true. I've known pit bulls who were sweeter than apple pie a la mode and couldn't have been more perfect. Then there was that dang pure bred cocker spaniel I had, prettiest dog I've ever seen, short of an Irish setter, but she was as unpredictable as a volcano. Please, don't assume a dog breed will determine their personality. Its the dog individual dog that determines it, not the breed standard.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“The day the power of love overrules the love of power, the world will know peace.”
― Mahatma Gandhi~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I just wanted to jump in and say rabbits and small animals are in fact the forgotten. Nobody thinks to surrender a rat to a shelter and therefore it suffers and dies in silence. Rodents and rabbits are actually so overbred it's unbelievable. Hundreds of rabbits die each day for lack of shelter space. When the bird and small animal rescue opened here in my province in 2008 they thought they would just get some doves and budgies and bunnies, they're 4 years in now and have gotten turtles, gerbils, hamsters, mice, rats, birds and parrots, guinea pigs and a lot of ferrets and rabbits.
Rabbits are too easy to breed. My rabbit came from a BYB but I figure I saved her since she lived in a commercial cage with all of her siblings and mom for 4 months- this family I got her from had a male and female and they wanted to see what the babies would look like, then they made a quick 10$ per rabbit. There was nothing specific about their breeding 2 store rabbits.
Ever go through the pet section of the classifieds??

That said, I see nothing wrong with opting to buy from a breeder. BUT......reputable dog breeders are hard to find. You will need to do a lot of research before settling on a breed/breeder.

You will find plenty of purebred dogs at shelters because of all the backyard breeders. I have one friend with a beautiful Basset Hound, one with a Chinese Crested and I myself have a mini Poodle.....all from local shelters.

If these dogs had been bred by REPUTABLE BREEDERS they would have never ended up in a shelter to begin with.

Actually hairless dogs aren't really that rare if you know where to look for them, they're just not very common. Chinese Crested, Xoloitzcuintle, and Peruvian Inca Orchid are all breeds known for hairless varieties. People always stop me whenever I'm out walking my Afghan Hound and tell me how they never see them anymore. There's acutally a good number of Afghan's out there; just most pet owners don't keep them in full flowing show coat so people don't recognize them and most show dogs aren't walked out on the street since their owners typically have large yards/acres to exercise them at home.

Also the petsores typically aren't the ones who breed the dogs they sell. Petstores are really just pet brokers with and fancy facade and they order whatever dog they want from the puppymill itself. I usually end up getting kicked out of those petstores whenever I end up wandering into them. Apparently they don't like people asking questions about the dogs they're selling and having their staff look like idiots because they haven't got a clue. I once saw someone trying to finance their dog from a petstore; seriously people if you can't afford the insane price for your pet store dog and need to make payments then you should probably reconsider buying a dog in the first place.

BTW FishyFishy your pug is adorable!

Actually, yes, hairless dogs are rare. There are certain breeds that are less rare than others. But they are rare. The definition of "rare" is "not occurring very often". Compare how many people who own hairless dogs to how many people own, lets say, corgis or pugs. There are considerably less owners and breeders.

Also, pet stores that purchase their "stock" from puppy mills ARE puppy mills themselves. The care they give these puppys are considerably less than that of a reputable breeder.

And I'm sorry if dog owners don't have $400-$800 laying around. Your average dog owner has credit card debit and barely makes ends meet. I am LUCKY to have an extra $100-200 every paycheck. But I still have a CareCredit card in case my animals suddenly get hurt or ill. So saying you shouldn't own an animal because you cannot buy it without paying payments is really rude and inconsiderate.

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